


The way to fall in love

by astroenergy



Category: Durarara!!
Genre: M/M, just for fun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-20
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 11:25:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6608860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astroenergy/pseuds/astroenergy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>36 questions to fall in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

When Shinra came across an article entitled “To Fall in Love with Anyone, Do This” in one of his leisurely online searches for ways to make Celty want him as badly as he wanted her, he clicked on it more out of curiosity rather than because he actually thought there was any chance of this being a serious piece of writing. However, it turned out to be based on an actual study conducted by a psychologist a few decades earlier. The article, of course, was nothing serious. The study itself, however, was interesting if nothing else. He showed it to Celty that very evening, asking for her opinion. Celty was adamant; she was not human, but she was certain that it could not work. Love was not something that could be fabricated in a laboratory, she had lived long enough to be sure of that. Even though he didn’t necessarily disagree with her, Shinra still found the research intriguing and worth to… replicate, let’s say. There was little doubt that love between two human beings was too complicated to be produced in a laboratory. Interpersonal closeness, however, which was what the research referred to, was something that, undoubtedly, resulted from communication and sharing of personal information and feelings. And there were two people specifically that he had in mind as his research subjects…


	2. Chapter 2

“He is not human, he is a monster!”

 

…And the conversation had started off so well… Izaya had received Shinra with the same smirk of amused boredom as always and had enriched his friend’s monologue of how he had come across the article and the research with playful sarcasm. His reaction to the subject of the research study, however, was far more positive than that of Celty or even Shinra himself. His eyes had sparkled with curiosity and, after Shinra had expressed his doubts about the outcomes of such an experiment, he had jumped at the opportunity to go off in one of those long monologues of his, the type that he was the only one interested in, but, unfortunately for anyone involved, could never seem to keep to himself. Shinra had kept quiet, pretending to listen to his friend as he went on and on about the conditioning of the mind and Pavlov’s experiments with dogs. He was not unaware of the research himself - and Izaya had to be aware of that fact, but he went on anyway - but he had always taken this kind of research with a pinch of salt, at least as far as how applicable their findings were in real life conditions, outside the laboratory where all factors were carefully monitored. Izaya, on the other hand, was so enthusiastic about it, that he might as well be talking about his own personal research.

“…There are different types of conditioning of course, Pavlov’s classical conditioning, which could also be called ‘learning by association’, is only a very basic observation of how if a stimulus that results in an emotional response is repeated alongside another stimulus which does not cause an emotional response, eventually the second stimulus will result in the same emotional response…”

Pavlov had experimented with dogs and had been awarded a Nobel Prize for his study of their digestive system, but that was something Izaya seemed to have absolutely no interest in. Shinra tried to explain that the fact that people could be conditioned to respond to specific stimuli did not mean that they could also be conditioned to love someone they barely knew or had little reason to even like. A very simple example of classical conditioning was that a sudden noise  makes us flinch, but if a movement is made at the same time as, or just before the noise, such as moving hands to clap loudly, then we will learn to flinch when the movement is made without the noise necessarily being there. That was far from making two people fall in love! Izaya would hear none of this, though. He went on to talk about the four types of operant conditioning (reward, punishment and behaviour) and even gave him a lecture on behaviourism - Shinra would never have guessed that his friend was interested in education theories…

Eventually, he had agreed that conducting such an experiment was a marvellous idea and had even volunteered to find some research subjects for Shinra - on the condition that he’d be allowed to observe the experiment himself.

“I already have two research subjects in mind, but don’t worry, you will be able to observe the experiment from up close…”

Despite what other people thought, Shinra was hardly ever scared of Izaya - except for those times when the latter’s eyes shined like a predator’s who’s about to lunge at its prey. That was the kind of look he received when he suggested that Izaya and Shizuo participate in the experiment as the research subjects. He found himself jumping out of the couch and cautiously moving away from the awoken demon as he tried to explain why the two of them were the perfect pair of people for this experiment.

“Just think about it! What better subjects to an experiment about interpersonal closeness than two people who know so little about each other, but still claim to hate-”

“HATE!” Izaya cut him short. “Not claim to hate - HATE each other.”

“Exactly. Yes. What you just said. Two people who hate each other.” Izaya hadn’t taken a single step towards him, but Shinra could still feel the menacing air about him. It was always best to let him have his way when he was angry.

“You wouldn’t want to ruin the experiment by choosing the wrong subjects.”

“That’s…exactly why I have chosen you two…”

“But if I understand well, this is a study on interpersonal closeness between two human beings.”

“Yes…”

“He is not human, he is a monster!”

Shinra had expected this. “You know that there is no scientific proof of that.”

“Then, perhaps, this is the research study you should be conducting!”

The menacing aura had never left Izaya, yet Shinra somehow worked up the courage to try and turn the conversation to his favour. Perhaps he didn’t know much about how to create the right circumstances to bring two people together, but he knew how to intrigue and, hopefully, even sway his - almost only - friend.

“I’m sorry, I thought you were interested in the experiment. You seemed fascinated by the idea.”

“I am. Choose the right subjects and I’ll be happy to observe.”

“Wouldn’t it be fun to observe from really up close?” One step forward for Izaya, another step backwards for Shinra. Perhaps he should speed up the process. “I mean, regardless of whether you believe this would be a good choice for the experiment, it is an excellent opportunity for you to observe Shizuo from up close!” The glimmer in Izaya’s eyes told him he was in the right path. “Just think of all the information you could collect through this experiment! Shizuo would never share personal information with you, but if I convince him that this is just for the shake of an experiment - and, of course, that you are taking it as seriously and are being as honest as he is - then maybe he would open up.” Izaya seemed to be considering it, but seeing as he was taking too long to decide, Shinra thought he should offer some extra motivation. “Unless, of course, you’re scared. I wouldn’t blame you; you have every reason to be afraid of being in the same room with him.” Izaya’s look spelled triumph.

Izaya Orihara was scared of n o  o n e.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello world!   
> This is ridiculously short, but that's kind of the point. You see, I have taken a (rather long) break from writing and now I am trying to get back to it. And since updating my multi-chaptered fic was out of the question (I'm not saying I didn't try, only it takes a lot of energy and I'm far from ready), I thought I should write something very short and simple - and, hopefully, fun! This is based on an actual article and an actual research - you can simply google the title of the article if you want to read the real thing.


End file.
